Finally: Long-Term Transportation Planning Underway at DOT

Streetsblog is picking up many under-the-radar signals that the Bloomberg Administration may finally be asking its transportation agency to do more than fill pot holes and that Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff is leading a serious push to develop a comprehensive transportation and land use strategy for New York City.

The first signal came at the beginning of Mayor Bloomberg's second term when DOT Commissioner Iris Weinhall's box was moved on the Administration's org chart and she began reporting directly to Doctoroff.

Next, DOT's creative, competent Lower Manhattan Borough Commissioner, Steve Weber was promoted to a newly created Strategic Planning position. Amazingly, prior to Weber's appointment, there was no one in New York City government responsible for long-term transportation planning and strategy.

Now, in, perhaps, the most public sign that a major transportation and land use planning initiative is underway, Weber is assembling a Strategic Planning staff. Sources say that he will have as many as eight full-timers working under him.